McCain-ville

Once again the sad shell of a once a hero John McCain has arisen from the recesses of bigotry and bias and has spoken. The senior Senator from Arizona is also once again making up rules, which in his tradition of flip flopping, change, depending on which medication he did or did not take. The Senator who never quite understands his own positions on anything is trying hard to let the military’s policy of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” not be overturned.

McCain argues that the Pentagon's study on DADT does not directly ask military personnel "whether" the policy should be repealed, but rather assumes that the policy will be abolished and merely addresses the question of "how." (msnbc.com).

So NOW in McCainville, the troops are supposed to make recommendations, set standards, make decisions on their own military life according to Senator McCain. NOW in McCainville all the troops can decide if they like something or not, if they want to participate in an action or not. Should the troops sit around and debate or vote on the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars? Should they decide on how many tours of duty each and every woman and man should be sent? Should they decide if they salute their superior officers or just offer a “Hey Dude” how’s it hanging?

I wonder how history would have changed if the troops had been asked about integrating the military allowing the Negros to serve or how they would have felt about women in the armed services.

"I'm paying attention to the commandant of the Marine Corps," he said. "I'm paying attention to the other three service chiefs who have serious concerns. They are the four guys who are directly in charge. In all due respect, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs is not directly in charge of the troops. The Secretary of Defense is a political appointee who's never been in the military. And the president, obviously, has had no background or experience in the military whatsoever. It was a campaign pledge to the gay and lesbian community." (msnbc.com)

So the US Military according to John McCain NOW in McCainville no longer should take its command from the Commander and Chief, if the commander and chief never served in the armed services. So NOW in McCainville (according to this ancient shell of a man) the Secretary of Defense is useless in making any real decisions about military life because he has never served in the Forces and his opinion should carry little to no weight because he is a political appointee. So NOW in McCainville Mr. McCain wants to rewrite the Constitution of the United States by disallowing any input into the governance of the military by the Executive Branch. The Senator wants the four service chiefs to direct and implement the governance of the military solely and without the checks and balances that keeps this country coupe and junta free.

And no one in the ranks of the Republican/Tea Bag Party has found the balls or backbone to stand up and say to the senator from Arizona, you are too senile, too ridiculous, to un-American with your ever changing reasons and rhymes. The boys and girls in the club of the Republican/Tea Bag Party look the other way ignore the definition of equality for all, the checks and balances of the last 234 years of the Constitution and permit a sick man living in McCainville ( located right next to Palinland) to define policy and practice. In a single cadence of silence the Republican/Tea Bag politicians remain silent as the one single voice of dissent croaks in an abyss of hate, bias and bigotry.

We all thought that the road to McCainville had been abandoned and re-routed after the last presidential election, but glory be someone has paved the road with cobblestones.

not sure why

I am not sure why there are some things happening in our culture that I just don’t get. I am not sure why I can’t just let the flow run its course and ignore the flood it causes as it runs past and ruins people’s lives. I am not sure why when added up the actions of the many never seem to assist with the needs of the few. I am not sure why it just seems so wrong when the obvious is ignored and replaced with self serving, insufficient rhetoric ruminating in the ridiculous.

People are unemployed in this nation, have been for over two years for some. Corporations, banks, financial institutions are drowning in profits greater than their own accountants contemplated. People are hungry, hurt, and desperate and Congress is stalling on fixing any or all the problems in anticipation of better election results for the 2012 campaign. People who have paid into unemployment, worked their entire lives, paid their taxes, never went to jail, obeyed the law are now considered despots and dredges to society because they want to just survive and need help to do so.

Tea Baggers united (with the financial assistance of a group of ultra wealthy CEO’s and businessmen) to win elections and make their voices heard. They claim they are all grass root organizations but somehow had the anonymous amalgamation of millions of dollars from those who would wish to be their masters. Tea Baggers have demanded smaller government when it comes to human services, workers rights, reforms, but demand government control grow larger when issues of abortion, homosexuality, immigration are concerned. Tea Baggers want jurisdiction over their personal rights but love to deny any freedoms to their chosen list of demons and devils.

Groups who proclaim they represent and present family values, focus on the family love to rally around anything homophobic. They indulge and delight in destructive behavior when the ‘Gays’ want to marry, when the ‘Gays’ want to adopt kids, when the ‘Gays’ want to openly enlist in the military. But those in the ‘save the family’, ‘it’s for the children’ camps are always quiet when their members are adulators, participate in infidelity, seek a third of fourth marriage. The ‘save marriage’ marauders, the ‘for the children’ characters, the ‘save the family’ fighters never state how denied lack of health insurance weighs heavy on the children, how stopping unemployment checks ruins the family, how not placing orphaned kids or bastard kids or neglected kids in a loving home is destructive to the well being of each child. It is never about how heterosexuals behave but always about the damn homosexuals.

Public figures are caught on audio and video reciting racist, bigoted, homophobic remarks, yet when confronted with their ignorant and uneducated statement they blame the press and are excused by their fellow fools. Gangs run rampant in American cities but the only war on terrorism is held in Afghanistan and Iraq. Cult hero’s are men who schtoop every woman imaginable or objectify them using them as their pleasures. Reality shows glamorize insulting judges; plastic surgery, skinny people, hot studs and beautiful babes, and Americans can’t stop watching. In the name of a Christian God churches protest funerals, Christians vandalize mosques, and love thy neighbor is replaced with love your white, heterosexual, Christian, legal, Republican neighbor.

I am not sure why there are things happening in our current culture that seem to have no reason or rhyme, but just seem to thrive on discontent, displeasure and doom. I am not sure when the crack in the damn started, when truth no longer counted, when fact was replaced with fiction, when selfish prioritized self less?

I am not sure how much longer we as Americans can survive this onslaught of greed, gluttony and garish behavior. It has to stop eventually, doesn’t it? Doesn’t it?

day after thanksgiving

It is a wonderful thing, to have those in your life for whom you give thanks. It is a wonderful thing to have had experiences in your life that you were and are thankful for. It is wonderful to be able to reflect and remember that once what might have seemed hopeless is hopeful, useless is useful and short sighted is now a new horizon.

What matters most for me are the moments that great people have shared and sorted through with me. What matters most is to say thank you for kindred souls, kind hearts kinship, ignoring the carless whispers, cold spirits, and childish shenanigans.

For all of my family and friends who have made a difference I am thankful. Happy day after Thanksgiving!

shut up sarah, please shut up

Here you go again Sarah, calling out others for acting in a caring, responsible, intelligent manner.

Here you go again Sarah, trying to create dissension, illusion, and ignoring the truth and acts of reason. Here you go again Sarah saying all that is wrong in someone else's good deed and doing more harm than good.

On the Laura Ingraham radio show and in your newest book you and your ghost writer decided to take on Michelle Obama's campaign against obesity. You ranted and raved about how the government has no right to deny the God given right of parents to decide the fate of their children's health. You shouted long and loud enough so your lemmings who need little fact but lots of fiction now think Michelle Obama, as First Lady, can enact a law taking away the right of any ignorant parent to serve fatty high caloric foods. You took your soapbox of lies and have decided to mislead and misconstrue the truth once again.

And once again Sarah, you missed the point. Once again you think that a few low blow political shenanigans can gain you notoriety as all you do is make noise. And once again your maternal instincts are not at all what a caring mother, a knowledgeable mother, an intelligent mother would share.

Michelle Obama is trying to educate the public as she would her own children as to the menace and mayhem eating fatty foods, high sugar foods, high caloric foods can and will do to their young lives. Michelle Obama is trying to reach those who have few role models and instruct parents on the wise way to eat. She is acting as a good parent using as you say, God's given right to parents, to guide a path so young kids can grow up healthier and happier into adolescents and young adults. She is acting as a good mother would in demonstrating a behavior with positive results. (I am not sure if your handlers and those who feed you any facts have tutored you in knowing that the First Lady does not and can not make laws. But as the First Lady Michelle Obama can use her position to help make clearer those misconceptions that if not heard can and will hinder a child's growth.)

Your tract record on parenting, Sarah, is sketchy. You told your daughter Bristol that abstinence is the way of the Lord and in your house the expectation. You preached abstinence but failed in parenting skills by informing your teenage daughter if she should not remain celibate, then here are the consequences and here are the remedies, albeit remedies you would not prefer in keeping from becoming pregnant.

Your daughter Willow was never reprimanded by you for her vulgar and bigoted slurs against Gays. She seems to think that certain populations of people are less than and no voice from her momma came forward to educate her differently.

And all your bull shit about Family Values seems to be like a whisper in the wind as you have terrorized the public on universal health insurance. If family and values of family are sooooooo important to you, why were you the leading voice against a health care package that in fact would permit ALL Americans ALL families to get the care they need?

Sarah what makes you tick? What is it about fair, and just, right and good that just irritates the shit out of you? Why do you never use good judgement, but just judge people without any fact, lots of fiction and fabrication?

Michelle Obama is acting as she would as a mother to her own children by trying to explain to millions of parents in America that how our kids eat is important. You call yourself a Momma Grizzly but it seems the only thing you want to do is eat your young.

Shut up Sarah, please, finally just shut up!

so many questions

Just some questions:

It is the Tuesday before Thanksgiving 2 days before Sears opens its Thanksgiving Day sales event on midnight November 25, 32 days before Christmas, 33 days before the after Christmas sales extravaganzas take place, 38 days to book your NYE party place, 39 days before 2011, and most likely 40 days before the first commercial for a dozen roses for Valentines Day is aired on TV. Where has time gone?

Once again one of those (either a Palin kid or a friend of a Palin kid) adolescents has taken to the private internet waves to use the F word and slander someone who disagrees with something or other that the Palin’s have caused, cursed, or created. Once again a kid of a self proclaimed holier than thou and closer to God Christian parent has decided to raise his/her ugly and bigoted head and lash out disclosing their hatred and lack of parental guidance. And once again, the lady who wants to run for President remains silent, snug in her own cocoon of deniers and dismiss-ers. When does a mama grizzly finally act maternal?

The state of Arizona in a Republican/Tea Bag cost savings event has reneged on funding the budgets once established to help those families in need of transplants to get the money so they can live a longer life. Governor Jan Brewer, the see-er of headless corpses smuggled in from Mexico refuses to take any emergency action in assisting those individuals whose own insurance will not cover the dollars to save their lives. She and the Republican/Tea Bag cronies have drawn a line in the sand stating we all need to be held to a budget. Why does the lesson on budgeting have to be drawn over a person’s life?

Health Insurance once was considered a unique way to prepay for any and all emergencies that might pop up and cause us a bit of a financial set back. It was an idea to permit people to pay into a system that would, could pay for some unforeseen health events in our life. Health Insurance was just that... an insurance to help us if our health deteriorated. It then morphed into a preemptive plan, one which was intent on encouraging exams, procedures that might alleviate some more serious health event by being proactive. It was a solid American tradition to insure the citizen from an unknown future. And as American as apple pie, some very savvy investors decided great profit could be made by promoting a service but never really permitting complete access to it. How come Health Care needs to make a profit, when all we ALL want is to remain as healthy as possible? Why is there a cost to staying healthy?

President Obama won a resounding presidential election in 2008 as did the majority of Democrats. Without any stretch of the imagination the American public voted, established a mandate for change. The remaining Republicans elected in 2008 ignored the mandate, systematically and sinisterly refused to participate in Government and refused to admit that the majority of Americans insisted on change. In 2010 the Republicans gained and extraordinary amount of elected positions. Why now, is their election called a mandate when in fact two years before it went unnoticed by the minority party?

Snookie sleeps around, slaps her girl friends… why do teens find her so appealing? Sarah quit the office of Governor in Alaska, does not believe in global warming, pays little attention to the stranded polar bears on a floating ice pack…why is she host of a show called Sarah Palin’s Alaska? Bristol has teenage sex, The Situation screws anything female any where possible…why are they selected as spokes people for abstinence? Martin Sheen goes through and abuses boo’s and women like most of us do toilet paper…why is he the highest paid actor on television? We are still in the war against terrorism; we still are making enemies within the militant Muslim nations…why suddenly do we not need airport security? The unemployed can’t even live off of their unemployment, the middle class are struggling to even pay their bills…why is there even an issue about not stopping the tax breaks for those making over $250K? Labor Day is the last official day of summer…when did the Christmas season start the Tuesday after Labor Day?

So many questions…

Lists

Lists have been made throughout history. Many of us make a list of daily tasks, tasks at work that need finished, and lists of who is naughty and nice to give to Santa for the holidays. There even was a cute movie called the ‘Bucket List’, which included all of the lists of opportunities in life to enjoy before dying.

But then there are some lists which offer little joy and many times create havoc, hate and chaos. During the hay days of the Pogroms in Russia Jews living in villages were on the list of homes to be destroyed because they were Jewish homes. In Nazi Germany there were lists of Gays, Jews, Gypsies, and Artists who needed to be captured, killed or taken to concentration camps. In New England during the 1600’s there was a list of potential witches who needed to be burned at the stake. In the south during the 20’s and 30’s the Ku Klux Klan made a list of Negros who dared stare at white women found them dragged them into the woods and hung them. In the 50’s Senator McCarthy created his own list of Commie loving Americans, had little evidence for most except for heresy and made life miserable and morose for so many. Richard Nixon developed his Enemy’s List and as President tried to make a living hell on earth for anyone who happened to cross him or have any discourse that he felt was demeaning.

And now we have Glenn Beck and his magic chalk board, with any kind of list imaginable, but anything listed as evil, awful and Un-American. Mr. Beck, like a magician, will pull from his top hat topics and ideas based on fear and loathing and tell his lemming like public these people are bad, these ideals stink and these folk need to be feared. And like a bad magician everything Glenn does has the acrid smell of fake smoke and mirrors. He will saw the truth in half, will make honest disappear, and will pull the wool over the eyes of dimwits who want nothing more than to be told who and how to hate.

Supposedly humans have evolved and each time a mistake is made we learn how not to repeat that same stupid experience. Supposedly humans have the capacity to discern bad from good, fact from fiction, right from wrong. Supposedly humans have the ability to learn from our own self made mistakes. Supposedly!

But here we go again with lists and in particular Glenn Beck’s list. Here we go permitting a moron to mangle the truth, fabricate the facts and outright lie about what is real and what is not. Here we go giving permission for an angry man, a bigoted man a self serving and selfish man to dominate the social scene in this country and dictate through diatribes the immediate future of a great nation. How does that happen? How do the smart lay back and lounge while a fire eating dragon lunches on misconceptions, madness, slander and lies?

Most lists created to alienate people are developed by men and women who are paranoid, delusional, self appointed prophets, and phonies. Most lists created to emphasize “we” versus “they” are concoctions of charismatic monsters who want no more than to destroy consensus and clarity. Most lists created to divide and conquer are extensions of imaginations of mad men/women who hide behind fabrication and turn to dust when faced with truth. And yet, once again a vast amount of Americans are listening, learning and leaning on the words of a list maker, Glenn Beck.

When does this stop? When do the political pundits, the social commentators, the religious leaders, the intelligent of this nation band together and say we have had way too many lists in the history of nation and this latest list has to cease?

Free speech is a blessing of America, but hate speech must be countered by a culture to ensure that free speech does not blur into ending speech for some and allowing loathing and lies for others.

Lists have been around civilization for a long time and many of those lists have led to disaster, destruction and doom. Have we not learned anything from history, anything at all?

whose family values

Family Values, we hear a whole lot about how they seem to be missing in this country, especially when it comes to those who identify as Democrats or Progressives. For some reason the Christian right wing of the Republican Party has laid claim to identifying and stating just what Family Values should and might be.

We hear a whole lot about doing what is right for our children and grandchildren, and that the only ones who seem right for that job vote Republican, are Evangelical, believe in Creationism, laugh at global warming, and want the Government out of our homes. We hear a lot about Jesus's intent, his purpose for mankind, and a whole lot of interpretation of the Bible though the eyes of church leaders who bask in the sunlight of churches ornate and built on the dollars of the lemmings who think they to can buy their way into God's good graces.

Aways first to denounce Gay's getting married, or raising children, or pushing for illegal aliens to be stockaded and fenced in and have their children go back to their parents country, wanting to defy health insurance to the poor or unemployed, those who spew Family Values as if they owned them all just love to horde Family Values for themselves and just refuse to permit anyone else to claim value for their families.

And those purveyors of hypocrisy are always loudest when protesting anything that sounds like social change supporting political candidates who pride themselves in racism, homophobia, anti semitism and those candidates who want the rich to remain rich while the poor just fade into the sunset.

You can be a candidate whose family values disappeared while you were cheating on your spouse, with your kids at home, having one two or three affairs, but as long as when you are caught doing so, you repent and (swear you are a fallen lamb), but you also throw in some barbs against homosexuals, abortion doctors, and anyone who thinks science trumps the New Testament. Family Values seem to stay intact as long as you hate the same way as those who think they own Family Values.

Once again, unemployed Americans are facing the sad prospect that their long term unemployment checks may not arrive in time to pay the bills. Just before the Holiday Season (and the Family Values groupies like to refer to it as the Christmas Holiday after all there is no separation of church and state for Christians), the Republican/Tea Bag Politicians want to deny anyone on unemployment the opportunity to receive their checks. According to many of the talking heads of the Republican/Tea Bag millionaire politicians unemployment checks are incentives for people to remain unemployed. By receiving those checks, it makes a statement to most and or many stay home don't work, Uncle Sam will take care of you. The same Politicians who created the recession, who fueled the flames of unemployment, who raised the incomes for the very wealthy, want no blame for the situations they created.

And the families whose parents are unemployed, out of work, receiving little to no income, will no longer be able to support their families. If there is less money, no money how do they feed, house and take care of the health of their children and their grandchildren?

So where are all the Family Values groups now? Where is their up roar, the one they use to save the Institution of Marriage, the one they use to stop the repeal of don't ask don't tell, the one they use fight Obama Care, the one they use rallying against abortion doctors? Where is the vehement, virulent, violent rhetoric they use to claim ownership to Family Values when real families, face the prospect of depression, financial ruin, and hardships? Isn't their mantra "it's for the children"?

It is no where to be heard or seen because those who say they are the owners of Family Values have none, lie, and only shout down anything that comes from Democrats. As long as their soul mates the Republicans/Tea Bag hooligans are insisting unemployment insurance is bad for America those Family Values groupies will remain deafeningly silent.

Family Values seem to be touted and shouted by people who say they know what is right and what is wrong. Bullshit, that is all it is for if they were true to their words they would be protesting in the streets demanding that the parents of of the children and the grandchildren be paid immediately and receive their unemployment checks even as little as they are.

When are people who know the value of family going to lay claim and take back the ownership of real , genuine Family Values? When?

confusion

Some things I just don’t understand and can’t figure out:

A vast majority of Republican/Tea Bag elected politicians who came to power promoting the common man, his/her freedoms and rights seem to confuse me when it actually comes to creating bills and law to protect those same individuals.

The majority of Republican/Tea Bag Congress people vetoed extending payment to the unemployed after the deadline in December expires. Many wealthy Congress people lamented the fact that unemployment is difficult, but then said America does not want to go into debt some $60 billion to help the unemployed. At the same time most of the same Republican/Tea Bag Senators and Representatives are bending over backwards to protect the 1% wealthy of this country to save them from paying higher taxes (if and when the Bush Taxes expire) which in turn will raise the debt of this Government some $700 billion.

It seems protecting the wealthy from higher taxes they can afford, (and for some really never pay due to the fact they can employ high priced lawyers to find a tax loophole or two) has much more merit than protecting the middle class citizen who most likely without employment revenue coming in will be that much closer to homelessness, hunger and not paying any taxes at all.

A vast majority of those same Republican/Tea Bag Congress people say that it may be hard times for the unemployed (when those same politicians are not accusing the unemployed as lazy and choosy about what type of work they look for) say they are taking a stand because they (the altruistic politicians) are doing it for our children and grandchildren.

I suppose it is more important to protect the children and the grandchildren in some far off future but not the children and grandchildren of the currently unemployed. Politicians are always doing this and that for the children, but my question is whose children. Families have children presently and they are short on income which means they have to prioritize medical needs, food, shelter, and clothing. Do those children not count when the pompous self righteous wealthier than most politicians play the “its for the children” card?

The church, the synagogue, the mosque should be places of peace, prayer and safety. Yet the leaders of most of the houses of worship whom identify themselves as deliverers of the word of God seem to speak in hues and tones of a vengeful and violent God. It is as if they invented God and not God creating man. They talk about tolerance but seem to be the first to throw around intolerance. They say God is a benevolent being but benevolent with a bias and bigotry.

I am so tired of being considered by those who (so cockily say they know Gods purpose and pleasures) as being a sinner. As a Gay man I am reminded that who I choose to love makes me a sinner committing a sin. I am told by some that I am still loved by God, (the sinner) but must stop committing the sin (loving someone).

I am told all of this by people who… commit adultery and when caught, and only when caught swear they will be born again and not behave so badly…tell men and women in Africa do not use condoms when having sex, just abstain, as millions of people die or pass on the disease to their children… explain that a woman has no real power in the eyes of God, should not lead a congregation, is more of a bride to Jesus or the essence of the Sabbath Queen, or just a conduit by which offspring should be produced and produced and produced…who lie about weapons of mass destruction...who are caught lying about their past, their present, but when the evidence is presented proving the lie, lie even louder about the truth.

It confuses me as to who is pointing the sinner finger at me and who has not looked in the mirror before rising their hands or rolling their eyes.

Security was project number one in the land of the Bush/Cheney War on Terrorism. During their reign anyone who questioned their motives, demonstrated concern on their intentions, asked why or how much was called immediately on the carpet and was ready to be burned at the All American Stake, patriots have at the ready. The TSA was America’s homeland security an arm of Government waiting to catch the terrorists. Never question the color code for alarm, and never say boo about pat downs or scanners, it was the American way.

As I recall we still have the two wars happening, you know the ones Bush/Cheney and the majority of Republicans created and the fear of homeland terrorism is preached to us almost every news day. But suddenly, pat downs and scanners are all too intrusive. Suddenly it is not in the best interest for grandma and her clan to be questioned or bothered about boarding a plane. And suddenly this has become a hue and cry of the Republican/Tea bag Brigade of politicians. Has this country suddenly learned how to spot a terrorist, have all the methods were were preached at as being the best, the most complete by the Republicans stopped working?

And suddenly, there is no longer a need for the TSA as suggested by some Republican/Tea Bag politicians because they think a private firm could and should do the job. (It reminds when Dick Cheney decided to hire Blackwater and Halliburton to fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It reminds me of the horrible manner in which the private firms he hired handled the affairs of the US and how horribly insufficient their supplies to the troops were.) But there was profit to be made for Trickie Dickie in hiring private firms, and I wonder just how much lobbyist money has gone and will go the Republican/Tea Bag politicians when they replace the TSA with their own goons.

I wonder at how valuable all the security seemed to be while Bush/Cheney and his henchmen treated America to a falsehood about being safer. I wonder at what happened to we need to pitch in and do all we can to keep America safe. Maybe, just maybe Bush’s term is over and now that the Republicans have won a majority the old propaganda needs to be retired.

I just can’t figure out how those who have stabbed us in the back are now the heros. I can’t understand why those who preach morals from the pulpit never live to their own standards, and I can’t figure out why suddenly the best security America could provide and did provide is lack luster and a loser.

And the most amazing thing I can not figure out is why do we as Americans let allow of this happen to us.

willow palin

Dear Willow Palin,

I realize you are 16 years old, still young enough to learn more about the world, but old enough to also realize your words have meanings and consequences.

I realize that you have two heterosexual parents who define themselves as good Christians, honest Americans and individuals who pride themselves as being an ideal mother and father. And I realize, Willow that much of what you know about the world and how you view the world has originated from your home environment.

I am not sure however, Willow, if your parents have explained to you that sticks and stones do break bones and WILL always hurt you and those to whom you call them. I am not sure Willow in your parents zeal to teach you morals and ethics, good and bad if they even spent any time on scapegoating, on polarizing, and on not finding great glee in trying to put others down.

I am a Gay man Willow. You don't know me but you seem to think that calling someone So Gay or a FAG*%T is cool and cute. You seem to think that calling someone, anyone So Gay or a FAG*%T is a puy down, a slur something evil. I am Willow, NOT evil, nor need to be put down as someone bad, or like being referred to as a slur.

You decided to go public, Willow and state your anger and your hurtful words on Facebook, which is part of free speech in America, and no one is denying you or anyone else that right. But, Willow, you have insulted me and you have insulted me with adolescent ignorance promoted by parents who for some reason or other have done a horrible job in teaching you the Christian and American way of life.

Your intentions Willow may have been to defend your sister from criticism (your sister now is a public figure, thanks to your Mom and Dad), and people in the public have to take the love and hate or step away from the public eye. It is not just the "lame street press" as your mother constantly states that has called you out for hate, but the all the "lame street people" who have been raised by quality parents who taught them understanding, compassion, and concern.

Willow, I have two kids much older than you but when they both were 16 they both knew that scapegoating, name calling, innuendo, and spite were to never be acknowledged nor correct. Both of my kids were raised by a mother a heterosexual and a dad a homosexual who believed in values, honor and God.

You are not cute Willow, nor innocent, but guilty and grossly uneducated about the world in which you live. It is a shame your parents have not intervened in this perversion of truth and remain silent as if nothing important has happened.

I am not sure where you learned your definition of what Gay means or where you learned that using the negative slang word of FAG*%T can be hurtful. I am assuming from your family environment, but I can't be 100% sure just 99.9% sure.

But lets use your theory of defining a group by incorrect definition and inappropriate fact. Let's talk about how some of us see the world and those in it who we dislike or like to dis about.

Sarah Palin, quits her elected job, she refuses to be questioned on her belief's, she lies about the facts as they relate to Health Care, says she reads a lot of magazines but never states which one, calls anyone who disputes her all kind of names from Nazi's, Communists, unpatriotic, and likes to threaten people by taking them out with a gun. Many people Willow would say that Sarah Palin's actions and behavior are stupid, ignorant, rude, disenfranchising, and dumb. Knowing all of that Willow Palin, people could begin to call her names. Imagine Willow if all of the sudden when a stupid comment, a dumb ass remark, an arrogant rant, a rude comment is made EVERYONE started to say that's So Palin, she is such a Palin!

I know you are on Facebook Willow, and I know your Mom loves to Tweet, so I am sure you may come across my blog. Stop calling people you dislike So Gay or FAG*%Ts or you may find yourself on the return end of scapegoating by people calling folks like you who act before they think as So Palin.

You are 16, Willow, and hopefully you can learn to understand and reeducate yourself, I just wish your parents could find the time and the conscience to change their ways.

Nothing worse than bad parenting.

my universe

There are some things in the immediate universe in which I live that I just don’t understand. I am trying to figure out, outside of my box, how people think, why they perform the actions they do and what motivates them. It is a bit confusing for me:

Role models:

So Bristol Palin of ‘Dancing with the Stars’ fame and Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino of ‘Jersey Shore’ fame are joining forces to do a PSA on safe sex. Bristol Palin of I told my mother I abstained because that is what she expected of me without filling me in on what happens when I do not abstain fame, and Mike Sorrentino of while I am on television I am banging girls in the mall, in hot tubs, in dressing rooms, on the floor, on tables fame are speaking to our youth about safe sex and are the crusaders of this cause.

Bristol tells the youth abstinence is still the key to safe sex and even though she used no protection at all and got pregnant the first time, (even though her mom put religion above practicality), Bristol will not have sex again until she is married first. Mike Sorrentino says that even though he can have sex with any girl anywhere in the world and on top of any kind of furniture or wall, he pauses before he schtoops and uses protection.

And somewhere in the universe of adolescents both these wise sages who say do as I say not as I do are considered role models. So kids have all the sex you want but if you get pregnant the first time abstain the second time or have all the sex you want pause and put a condom on and proceed again.

Words of children:

Willow Palin called someone So Gay and a FAG%*T on Facebook. Spokespersons for the Palin clan said Willow was just defending her sister Bristol who had been harangued by some Facebook users as a poor dancer and a low life unwed mother. No one from the Palin clan said that the use of the term you’re So Gay and a FAG%*T was offense, homophobic and Unchristian like.

Mrs. Palin had tweeted, lectured and written on how homosexual couples make poor parents and that the parental skills of say two dads and or two moms does not provide the children with a normal upbringing, to teach them values, skills and morals---‘doncha know’ the kind God wants us to have and their children were never taught.

Willow is the product of a heterosexual father and mother; I am kind of confused as to what kind of skills they are teaching using God as their mentor? Maybe we all should start calling stupid insensitive people “So Palin”, like ‘doncha know that is so Palin’!

Blame it on something else:

Reverend Cedric Miller told his flock of 1100 parishioners that infidelity is stemming from the use of Facebook. He first told his parishioners to share their Facebook password with their spouses then decided that all of his parishioners should close their Facebook accounts.

Marriage is an Institution reserved for the heterosexual couples. They are God’s choice to wed and of course to have offspring. Now it seems not only homosexuals have the power to wreck that Institution but Facebook is also part of that axis of evil.

It never seems to be that the Institution of Marriage is based on love, fidelity and trust. It seems that the all powerful Institution of Marriage is full of cracks and leaks due to the activity of those on the outside of marriage those devil like forces that want to destroy it.

Why doesn’t the Reverend Cedric Miller ask if those in his flock actually love their spouses, married their spouses for love not convenience, and why it is even necessary that any of his parishioners need to find satisfaction from anyone but their spouses? Blame it anything but the truth.

Safety First:

We have had all kinds of traveler alerts in assorted colors warning us about how dangerous air travel might be. (During the Bush years, especially a few weeks before the elections the colorful alerts rose to vivid colors only to be squelched down to a less brilliant color when George Bush won his election). Airline passengers in America have learned how to remove their shoes, avoid great amounts of liquid in their carryon luggage, stand in endless lines for security and walk though a scanner or a pat down.

After the horrific bombings of 911 a new resolve swept America that we would not change our habits just how we access them. So the Government set up the TSA and one by one suitcase by suitcase we all acquiesced to the new rules and regulations if we CHOSE to travel by air and like good lemmings waited our turn to enter the terminal.

But now there is some concern as to how safe the safety procedures really are. Some people don't want their junk touched, some are afraid of the radiation, and some wonder what will be next as the newest of safety features. And all along throughout the Bush years we were told that the American way is the safe way. And what do we find out from other security experts, that we are wasting time and money on all the wrong things. And what else did we find out...that Michael Chertoff ex Homeland Security Honcho had made a deal with the CEO's from all the corporations who make scaners and x ray machines and is making a whole lot money from them for buying useless products for the Government. Seems that there are a whole lot of other ways to make flying safe, but using them was less costly thus the payoff to Chertoff less valuable.

So now I am annoyed at what I thought was a delay based on saving lives, and am more annoyed that once more someone from the Bush administration gets his hands caught in the till and I am the one paying the price.

There are tall and small, important and impressive, serious and silly things in my universe. And if only it was me in my universe I might be able to handle the ups and downs. But MY universe intercedes and intervenes with the universes of millions. And as I see it the hypocrisy of the many universes is sometime overwhelming, and I will no longer tolerate the hypocrites who inhabit them.

bullies

Dear Mr. President,

As you are aware there has been a strange phenomena smothering the LGBT community and staging itself in the most abhorrent manner, LGBT youth committing suicide due to extended years of bullying and blame. Too many LGBT youth just can’t take the oppression, discrimination and intolerance projected by elders of the church, so called good Christian adults who even though they are heterosexuals are poor parents, insecure men and women who need others to single out, scapegoats, for their own mistakes and missteps in life and the lack of any backbone by most politicians to put in place laws that protect ALL Americans.

LGBT youth are told they are less than, not one of God’s chosen, victims of their own behavior, wasted lives and second class citizens in this country. You have made it clear that so far in your administration to LGBT youth that they certainly can not serve in the military openly adding to their embarrassment and dismay and feeling of less than by most or many.

As you are aware, Mr. President there is a movement, (of course generated by the LGBT community itself) which tries to dissuade LGBT youth to not give in or give up but to understand that as bad as their current life may be, it can get better. It is a showcasing of successful people talking about their experiences growing up in-spite of a separate but equal America emphasizing to those youth (who have not run out of patience and hope) saving your LIFE is important. It is also a strong plea to tell those who are victimized by bullies, don’t be afraid.

As much as I would like to rant and rave about bullying towards the LGBT community Mr. President, this letter to you is more about bullying in general and for calling the bluff of those who bully.

For the past two years of your administration the Republicans have acted like bullies toward you and the majority of Democrats and by doing so have been bullies for those of us who wanted change we could believe in. For almost the past two years, Mr. President you have permitted the Republicans to use their bully pulpit and have performed cartwheels, backbends and splits to try and appease the bullies. The spineless backbones of a majority of Dems also added to the fortitude of the bullies as very few of the majority party tried to draw a single line in the sand.

It is reasonable to try and talk to a bully, reasonable to to try and reason with a bully, reasonable to ask the bully why he is a bully and reasonable to try and find compromise. It is not reasonable, Sir, with all due respect to continue to permit the bully to spit in your face, deny you access, and threaten you with everything from God to the second amendment.

Human nature tells us most bullies are cowards, many are on the offense because they have very little truth or honor backing up their actions and know if found out to be the phonies they are, they will and should be on the defense. Human nature tells us that bullies travel in packs. Makes them feel more powerful, makes them feel in charge, makes them look like they are in control. And human nature tells us that once we acquiesce to all and any of the demands made by a bully there is no turning back.

Last time I looked Mr. President you were elected by a hefty majority of people who wanted honest, sincere, real and meaningful. Last I time I looked you were the President. How come you have not taken that privilege, that prestige that power and fought back at the bullies?

The Republicans run on scare tactics, divide and conquer, alienating populations, threats and lies and each time they achieve a goal because you and the Democrats have side stepped, or winked, or done nothing at all they win. And if they win, you lose and if you lose I lose as do the many people who voted for you because you promised change we could believe in.

Finally, the LGBT community is looking the bullies in the eye and calling them out. Finally the LGBT community is uniting around an important cause the lives of its youth. Finally the LGBT community is making a commitment of what was wrong then will not be tolerated now.

When will you stop tolerating the party of “no” ? When will you stand up and fight for what you say you believe in? When do you draw a line in the sand that can not be diminished or destroyed by the boots of the Republicans? When does separate but equal get replaced with EQUAL, whether you be white, black, heterosexual, homosexual, religious, atheist, woman, man, young, old, abled or disabled, alien or natural born?

I am happy some in the LGBT community have come forward beyond their words to fight the bully (I hope for more action to follow those words). I wonder and worry if you will do the same and stand up to bullies who only hope create anarchy and chaos. Words don’t work any more.

I have been a loyal fan Mr. President, but I grow tired of waiting, and waiting and waiting. Please don’t promise me that if elected in 2012 things will change, don’t promise me anything just do it now so voting for you in 2012 makes sense.

Zombies

Tonight I was reminded or warned that Discovery Channel was going to air its environmentally friendly, global warming aware, human interest if you hate most people outstanding, but void of any facts show, 'Sarah Palin's Alaska'. When did she come to own Alaska?

So, against my better interests and fighting my urge to vomit, I tuned into the show featuring the half Governor, name on a best selling book written by someone else, abstinence doesn't work mother if you don't tell your daughter what happens if she is not abstaining, comedienne, tweeter extraordinaire, and watched.

I watched for a full hour, looking and listening, and when it was over I was a bit miffed, I could not tell which zombie was Sarah Palin. I could find First Dude Todd, he was the zombie eating a dead deer, but for the life of me I could not find Sister Sarah. Then Joe said honey you are watching the 'Walking Dead', this is AMC not Discovery. Yikes, and I thought it was a good show, scary, bloody, brutal, mean spirited all the aspects that surround Sarah, certainly I thought, this had to be it. But it was the wrong zombie and the wrong zombie show. Damn!

Then I thought, since Discovery Channel is so concerned about pretending the life they show is real, not checking facts, promoting someone who isolates rather than find consensus, I would write them and suggest some more quality programs which fit the same mold as 'Sarah Palin's Alaska'.

How about George W. Bush's, 'New Orleans'. We could start the series with the ex-President floating high above the clouds waving to the people drowning. We could pan in on his momma Barbara Bush sitting in one of the box seats of the newly refurbished Dome and retelling her story about how those black people should be happier that they are in the Dome compared to their own homes in their flooded neighborhood. We could then watch as "Good Job Brownie", reminisces about not calling in the guard, not permitting aid until day three or four, and not even sweating in the humid heat of New Orleans. And the series could end with the author George Bush sitting next to Oprah on her over sized yellow chair, lamenting that if only he had done it differently, of course never apologizing for what he did, but stating that perhaps that he would have done all of it without any audio or video. Never one for prints on the smoking gun.

And why stop there, I said to myself. One more show, 'Dickie Cheney's Iraq'. Fitting name because I am sure when he started the war the Vice President was sure he and his Oil CEO's were going to own that Muslim loving oil rich country. After all he had his boys at Blackwater and Halliburton hired as mercenaries watching the rigs, and calling the necessary shots. Mr. Cheney planted the lies for WMD's never told the stupid Congress about how much the contracts to fight the war would cost (never mind the stupid and unpatriotic Congress never asked), and he had his henchmen ready to decapitate anyone in Iraq who might question America's role in Iraq. And to cover all bases (that Vice President never missed a beat) had his henchmen in the guise of Scooter Libby ready to reveal a CIA agent because her husband questioned the ethics of the White House.

Tricky Dicky could stand in front of his hidden cave in Wyoming, with his Uzi in hand (he can't use a rifle anymore), and proclaim how building that one true democracy on the lives of over 4000 troops and 100's of thousands Iraqi's was the right thing to do so he and the share holders of the oil cartels could get wealthy and wealthier. The last of the series could show Cheney's private militia blindfolding the journalists and writers and threatening them that if they ever disclose his hiding place scenes like those at Abu Ghraib would happen to them.

'Sarah Palin's Alaska', 'George Bush's New Orleans', 'Dick Cheney's Iraq', now that is honest, sincere, television you can trust. I am sure there are those advertisers who care less about morals and values and just love to entice the loser lemmings to watch good for nothing TV. I know some of the advertisers who paid for Sister Sarah to brag about her Alaska are waiting with baited breath to make the already infamous Georgie Bush and Trickie Dickie Cheney into real stars...reality stars.

And who knows maybe Newtie Gingrich will do a show about monogamy in marriage, and Mike Huckabee will talk about how dinosaurs are only a Stephen Spielberg creation (those darn Jews), and John McCain will talk about equality in the armed forces.

On second thought I will just tune into the zombies.

real reality

I had the blah's the other day and decided to just veg on the sofa and lie in front of the television remote in hand, and force myself to watch the most inane and insulting reality shows cable TV could offer.

I had been a fan of American Idol and to this day love Kelly Clarkson, Carried Underwood, Chris Daughtry. I never was a fan of Simon not because of his taste, but because of his delivery. Never one for hate, or putting others down, I became offended by those who did and do and made the choice to remove myself from their company. There is enough evil in this world, I believe, that no one else needs to add flames to the fire and stoke the evil bond fire with more timber. So having watched Simon for the past few seasons, I understood that most of the success of American Idol was not to show case talented musicians, but to get enough sound bytes of venom and vile to tarnish the purist of hearts.

As a Gay man I am offended by most of the shows which appear on LOGO, the supposedly Gay/Lesbian channel. It (LOGO) came to great acclaim as the saving grace a place where Gays could feel comfortable and get their fair share of communications. All I seem to find on LOGO are a bunch of shows showcasing stereotypical cartoon characters of mostly Gay men who are pampered, spoiled, obnoxious, whiny, wimpy and good material to be used by the Evangelicals as to why homosexuality is a sin. (It would be for me as a Jewish man, to watch a channel of all Woody Allen movies where all he does is play a whiny, wimpy, spoiled, self serving Jewish man.) But to keep it fair and in sync with the heterosexual world, in the bitchy department, LOGO now allows us to see househusbands who drink, spill drinks on one another, work out get botox-ed, buy expensive clothes and complain that there is no one out there to trust or have a tryst with. They even provide their own bleached blonds to cat fight and claw one another. I am told by some friends that the meaner the boys, the happier they are to watch the show.

Then there is Jersey Shore, with Italian stallions, Italian whores, Italian idiots and Italian mean selfish insincere characters who offer noting but vomit, herpes, and hang overs. They bang each other, pull at each other's hair, have pose downs, get sloppy drunk and provide mean and hateful behavior. And the mot popular personalities on the show are the ones who can, in a single bound stab you in the back while their genitals are stabbing you in the front. And these useless people are in great demand and will continue to be as long as they perform their skanky, vile, antagonistic behavior. The bully is the best so say the viewers of this show.

And then sadly the most unreal and evil of the reality shows are all of the so called news shows on FOX Pac TV. The most mean spirited, bully pulpit, name calling, irresponsible blow hards have their own allotted hours to spew lies, release venom, and vilify any and all as they so choose (of course never based on fact just hand written fiction). From Bill O'Reilly constantly talking about taking out someone with either a bullet or a brick to Glenn Beck pronouncing everyone as a Nazi (makes you wonder if someone who is always using Nazi to describe everyone around him if he dost protest too loudly), Sean Hannity proclaiming those around him as anti white, anti Christian, and anti American, and Sarah Palin ready to take target practice against anyone who comes up with real facts to challenge her phony fabrications.

Whether it be Simon Cowell telling fat girls they have no right to sing, to some steroided spoiled house husband complaining because botox does not work long enough, to Snooki pulling yet one more persons hair to the bigotry, bias, homophobia, racism of the FOX Pac non patriots, the bully seems to be the headline star in America 2010. The uglier the comment, the more brutal the rebuttal, the more bizarre the behavior, these reality stars and the hundreds just like them rack in the dough, the headlines and the topic of conversation. And for a vast majority of people they are hero's.

What has happened to a culture that... permits rude behavior, angry rhetoric, lies, irresponsible actions, no consequences for personal attacks, no remorse for hurting someone, immoral and unethical practices to be rewarded and made into star power? I am not sure of the far reaches of this kind of behavior, but most recently this country has witnessed an immediate response...the results of the 2010 midterms.

It seems low life is now high life. Truth needs no facts, just emotion. Consequences only come to those who want consensus. Common ground is not welcome unless you think, look, pray just like me. And bad is so much better.

Kind of scary and as to add a bit of Palinism, 'doncha know!"

some people

And more people are coming forward recalling the times in their life when they were bullied. And more people are reading articles about youth, who so tired of being bullied, have taken their life just to end what for them had been an unbearable burden. And more people are saddened, and disheartened that in America 2010 we are still talking about the anger we have towards one another instead of how to channel that anger into something positive.

And some troops are being discriminated from the armed services because they no longer want to lie that they happen, among many things in their lives, to be Gay or Lesbian. And some troops content on living a double life, not telling, not being asked, but being told they are Gay or Lesbian are booted from serving their country. And some people wonder why a person’s sexuality, his /she gender preference for a mate or lover has anything to do with anything important in this country.

And some self proclaimed religious folk are appalled that Gays and Lesbians have any or some of the rights the Constitution of this Nation permits. And some self proclaimed religious leaders insist that the laws of a Nation created with separation of church and state should relay on the words of their perspective Bibles to dictate the freedoms or lack of freedoms of this the Nation. And some people are confused what ruling from or by any religion has anything to do with equality in this Nation.

And while we chatter, cajole, complain more teens are committing suicides, more troops being discharged and more pitchforks raised in the name of the Lord. And while we ruminate on the decline of morals and values because some people happen to prefer to make love to individuals of the same sex, we continue to act unethically, immorally, and with little conscience as we discriminate and divide against and towards members of our society.

And why is it those who seem to brag at how close they are to God, who say they know his/her every wish and commandment, who act as soldiers for God’s Holy War, seem to act with the most hate and bigotry and somehow reflect nothing God like at all? And why do those of us who believe in a loving God let them get away with it? And why is equality up to a vote by the majority of people, permitting them to pick and chose what they believe to be fair or equal? Why is it we took that right to discriminate away from the majority to decide if slavery was right or wrong, if suffrage was good or bad, if interracial marriage was evil or righteous, civil rights for the Blacks was decent or disturbing, but Gay rights are off base?

This MY America as much as it is for Senators who cheat on their wives… for Priests who violate the childhood of young boys and girls… for CEO’s who pollute the earth because bottom line profits are more important than rules and regulations… for corporations who buy elections caring more about the safety nets for their businesses than any thing safe for the consumer…for bigots and bastards using the Bible to hide their own self loathing and self righteous behavior…for liars who deny spewing hate even when they are recorded by audio and video… for Cardinals, Rabbi’s Imams, Pastors who refuse to recite truth but rally around fear and fabrications.

And more people are ringing their hands, rubbing their heads and wondering and worrying what is wrong? When do we stop this unnecessary charade filled with empty actions and begin to change the world in which we live to one of caring, concern and conscience?

This is MY America and I happen to be a middle aged white male, Jewish by birth and choice, educated, an employed tax paying citizen, father of two children, a volunteer for certain charities, a contributor to other charities, a great son and brother and partner, a wonderful friend, and Gay by genetics. I do not want to be separate but equal in anything I choose to do or try or live and I do not respect anyone who thinks they are better than me because of their religious or anti American self proclaimed prejudices.

I AM tired of talking about change and want it to happen sooner than later. I AM tired of being a scapegoat for some else’s failings, and I AM tired of having fingers pointed at me for someone else’s inability to look in the mirror and say they have victimized themselves.

Some people will talk and talk and talk and delay and delay and delay…it is time to step up, step forward place the line in the sand and say ENOUGH, this IS my life and I AM now taking control of it.

Some people just make me so sick and I am so tired of letting them win.

veteran's day

It is Veterans Day 2010. I am not sure what words I can write that even have an ounce of guts, glory, grief or gore the many living Vets of this nation have endured. I can and will say thank you, and I will from the bottom of my heart admire you for fighting wars you believed in, fought because it was something you felt an American should do, or enlisted or was drafted and completed your tour or tours of duty because that was the only choice for you.

I only came close to the armed services during the hey days of the Viet Nam war when for three months I had to declare myself eligible for the draft due to a high lottery number. And for those three months I and my family had a whole lot of soul searching going on as to my options of enlisting or moving to Canada. It became a moot point for me as my number was never called and I was never eligible for draft again.

The only person I knew well who served in Viet Nam is my brother-in-law and to this day he never has and I suppose never will speak more than a few words on his experience there.

When I was very young living in Pittsburgh PA, Veterans Day was not only a day off of school but a day with a parade that included members of VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars), the JWV (Jewish War Vets) of which my future father-in-law was a major mucher (big shot), and fire and police men marching in uniform and with their patrol cars and fire engines. My father was a Sargent in the Pittsburgh Police Force and since the parade was in our neighborhood of Squirrel Hill, he too was a big mucher in organizing the parade. (My Dad had enlisted at a very young age in both the navy and the army).

We waved flags, sang God Bless America and pledged allegiance to the flag, never once missing a beat nor once questioning our actions and reactions. We were proud of the Vets most of whom back then had served in WWI, WWII, and the never declared war, but police action of the Korean War. As we knew about all the wars, enlisting in the armed services was a thing all Americans did and the armed services was a melting pot and equalizer of sorts for rich/poor, white/ black, and the perceived heterosexuals. (In the 50's heterosexuals were men and homosexuals considered pansy's and certainly would never enlist unless all they enlisted for was to whack off in the shower staring at all the hot heterosexuals---something John McCain and his homophobes fear actually happens).

In the 60's protest took precedent and the returning Vets did not march in parades nor did many of them garner and get the respect I believe they so much deserved. Instead they were blamed as agents of Capitalism and masters of slaughter and were judged by many as the villains in an unpopular war. Too few of them could find the holiday of Veterans Day meaningful or memorable, as their memories of the war were seldom shared or considered relevant or important. Again, I believe that was a shameful reaction by and of this nation.

And now we are celebrating Veterans Day 2010 as we are still fighting two wars where 18, 19, 20 year old's are asked to perform tasks that most and many can't even fathom. They are in far away places whose names are hard to pronounce and whose locals aren't sure who the hero or the villain really are. Many are there because for them it is vengeance for the terrible attacks on this country, an American responsibility, a means to earn a living, or a right of passage. For most, God willing, they can return home of sound mind and sound body and march in next years Veteran's Day parade.

But I wonder how those who established the ground works for these wars are honoring this solemn day. I wonder if George W. Bush has taken any time from his hectic schedule of book signing and book promotion to consider how his lies regarding weapons of mass destruction have changed the course of so many young men and women? I wonder if Mr. Bush when not chatting with Oprah, Matt Lauer, the comedians of Fox Pac TV, has even taken a moment of silence to pray for the lives lost and the lives ruined while he changed his definition of the reason for invading Iraq, from WMD's to helping Iraqi women gain freedom from their Muslim restrictive culture, to bringing democracy to the first Islamic nation. I wonder if Mr. Bush's conscience which was so offended when he was called a racist because of his poor handling of hurricane Katrina found enough of that conscience to say I am so sorry for misleading, misrepresenting, mistaking my intentions to go to war as anything real?

And what is Donald Rumsfeld doing this Veteran's Day 2010? The then Secretary of Defense who cowardly took no responsibility for the handling of prisoners at Abu Ghraib and blamed it on the discontent and immature behaviors of army grunts. I wonder how he honors this Veteran's Day? Does he go out and water board a few neighbors, does he burn a Koran or two, does he remember saying that safety vests, safety armor were really not that important and that soldiers had to adapt to the war, the war does not adapt to the special needs of the troops?

And Dickie Cheney with his 5 count 'em 5 deferrals from serving in any military uniform, wonder if on his thousand acre ranch in Wyoming or some secret mountain cave he even knows what day this is. I wonder if he has invited Scooter Libby over sharing some inside jokes about CIA agents, rewriting documents, sharing old lies they told to the press and public about the US intentions in Iraq. Wonder if they both lament the fact that they had to attack Afghanistan finally (even though the cowards who attacked this nation had fled to Afghanistan) due to stupid pressure from the citizens of this country. Wonder if they still complain that they had to make some feeble attempt to try and find Bin Laden. They both knew the money was to be made on the oil in Iraq, not the poppy's in Afghanistan.

And what about President Obama. He spoke while in Korea for the G20, and said all the right words about the kind of courage demonstrated by ALL of our troops. He admired their valor and vigilance and reminded all of us as Americans how so many have given their lives for our freedom. He still hasn't spoken about when these wars will end, how they will end and what will happen to the many troops, whose lives and lives of their families has turned topsy turvey. And when the President thanks ALL of the troops does he also mean those members of the armed services who can't be asked and can't tell that they, aside from being brave, are Gay and Lesbians? Are the troops more of a hero if they remain silent and act as second class citizens?

Oh yeah, it may be Veteran's day 2010, but presidential hopeful Sister Sarah, is already talking about the Vets who will be around when, if she is elected will be fighting a third war in Iran.

I know the meaning and purpose of Veteran's Day came from the heart of a nation grateful for the sacrifices too few made for so many. It was originally some small way to say thank you for some awfully big gestures of life and limb made by our troops. I know no matter my own thoughts about war I do appreciate the men and women who stand in the trenches, ride the roads filled IED's, and walk through the beaches, villages, cities of people who would kill them on the spot if they could. This is not another Hallmark card holiday and never should be. But I have to wonder what goes through the heads of a President who created a war invented by his Vice President and implemented by his Secretary of Defense and never really questioned by a majority of elected politicians?

I can sit here and blog and bitch and moan and feel safe because of the men and women Gay and Straight who have put and currently place their lives on the line for me. Thank You, ALL. thank you!